Channeling Pollock

Jackson Pollock, that is.  My two designs were much more fleeting and would never have gone for the price one of his paintings commands, but I still had a lot of fun and mine creations were edible.

I got in touch with my inner artiste and splatter painted a cake...with buttercream.  Yes, it was fun.  Yes, it was messy.  But aren't some of the best things in life?

I also splatter painted a few cake balls to go with the cake.  My hands were multicolored for days due to the food dye.  Ah, the life of a caker baker.

I don't think any of my "paint" slinging was going anywhere near 55 mph, but then again, according to this cake, it's not my speed limit anyway.

Oh, and have you ever seen fruit roll-up blooms?  If not, you're about to on this cute, mini, tiered cake I made for my niece's birthday.  Yep, those flowers are made from fruit leather (the polka dots are, too).  Nifty, no?  And they taste a whole lot better than the gumpaste ones!

Talk to you soon!

P.S.  I realize I'm inundating you with cake posts this week (there will be one more tomorrow!), but I'm playing catch up on sharing my November work.  Time got away from me, and I like to try to share the cakes on the blog prior to posting them on any other social media.  That way my followers get to see the creations first!

Pub Crawl

I'm famous!

Okay, well not really, but a photo of one of my cakes did get some time on our local newspaper's social media feed a few weeks back.  (Yeah, I'm behind...it's a perpetual problem this time of year.)

It was this one:

It was the anniversary cake for a local restaurant in my hometown.  And, yes, it was a BIG undertaking.  I even recruited Pax, my artist niece, to help with it, and Madre to help with the delivery and set-up!  The entire display when set up came in at 66" long and almost 20" tall at it's tallest point.

It actually consisted of four smaller cakes, all combined to make the one display.  There was the "logo" sheet cake:

Obviously, rendering their logo in edible medium.

The "roof is on fire" sheet cake:

This design was from one of the t-shirts the restaurant staff wears.  The original building the Pub was in was  involved in a fire that caused them to have to move to a new location, so naturally we had to reference the happening.

And, the brick wall/beer tap cake and of course, the beer cake:

The beer tap was designed, sculpted, and painted by Pax from Styrofoam.  I knew it wasn't something I felt comfortable taking on, and she was happy to help me out.  I'm assuming it's the first time she's ever been commissioned to create a beer tap...  Side note:  she's got a fabulous new site showcasing her artwork, you should check it out.  Just click here.

All the cakes were buttercream based with only the logos and other minor elements (i.e. the beer mug handle and beer tap) being made from either gumpaste, edible sugar sheets, or, in the case of the tap, Styrofoam.  Why styro?  I needed it to be light enough to hang off the side of the cake for an extended period of time!

The cake boards were fondant covered and painted with a copper glaze to mimic the bar top in the restaurant.  And those round and square pieces you may have noticed at the front of the cake, those were "beer coasters."  My personal favorites of those were the Rebus puzzles (word picture puzzles).

Oh, and one last tidbit.  The brick wall cake started out a light pink before I airbrushed it with a mix of dark red, black, and brown.  I'm still cleaning up the over spray...

If you're ever in my area and need a good place to have a beer and maybe get a bite to eat, you should stop in and visit the Pub.  And, no, they didn't ask me to say that - it really is a fun place to hang out.

Talk to you soon!

Mascarpone Masquerader

First, what is mascarpone?

It's a rich, creamy cow's milk cheese that is somewhere between cream cheese and butter in both texture and flavor.  It's smoother than cream cheese, but thicker and less "melty" than butter; it's commonly used in Italian desserts such as tiramisu and cheesecake.

So, now in the event you have a recipe that calls for mascarpone and you can't find any available in your grocery (ahem...this has happened to me several times), here's a substitute:

Using an electric mixer, mix an 8-ounce block of softened cream cheese with 2 tablespoons heavy cream and 5 tablespoons sour cream.

Viola!  Mascarpone substitute.

Mmm...tasty!